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Cut the tie to anything holding you back from success. Welcome to the Cut the Tie podcast. Hi. I'm your host, Thomas Helfrich. And in each episode, we bring you real entrepreneurs that really overcame challenges on their journey to become successful. We look at the impact, the moment, how it affected everything in their lives. Follow us on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Now let's meet our guest on Cut the Tie podcast. Today's guest is, David Rolfe. Nice to be here, Thomas. I'm glad you are here. I'm excited to share your story and hear about, you know, you. But why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself to the audience of who you are and what your business does and why it matters? Okay. Great. Well, first of all, Dave Rolfe is my name, and I live in Northern California, and I became an entrepreneur
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probably, or I had the idea. Maybe I was around 10 or 11 years old, and I lived in this small neighborhood. And there was a gentleman down the street that had a couple of daughters, and he drove a Thunderbird convertible. And I was enamored because my dad didn't have that kind of car. He worked for the government. And this guy would drive around his car. They'd go places, and it was like, how does he have so much time to do? My dad's working, you know, nine hours a day and so on and so forth. That image inspired me for some reason. It took a number of years to kick in, but that started my entrepreneurial journey. And what do you guys do today? Where have you currently landed in your entrepreneurial journey? Okay. So this is an interesting question, and sometimes I have good times answering it, sometimes hard. I'm a businessman that found a marketing approach to market products based on an idea I learned many years ago, and that was this. If you're trying to make it, you wanna land yourself between the manufacturer and the public, and then you wanna get involved with the transactions, kinda like what Amazon does. So this happened in '19, probably, '75. And I had gone to the newspapers and the tabloids, and I looked in the back of these tabloids. And I found this article about, you know, becoming a business guy, and I found a product. I was living in Canada. I was in Vancouver, and I imported this product from Southern California and brought it up to market into the what they call the health food industry. The product was called Nature's Nougat, and it was a health food bar. And it was organic and, you know, no preservatives in these things. But I'm in this store, and I make this presentation to this lady. And all of a sudden behind these beaded curtains, this guy comes out. And he says, man, that was the best presentation I ever heard. And he says, is that the only product you sold? And I said, well, yeah. It is. And he said, well, how would you like to sell hundreds of product? Well, as an entrepreneur, my mind just went, oh, yeah. Wow. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. I'd love to. And he invited me to a meeting. So I'm sitting in this meeting in a in a high school, in the auditorium, And, I was the only person in the audience. And he said this one thing to me, how would you like to own a Coca Cola machine on every corner of every street in America? And every time somebody bought a Coke, you made a nickel. Well, I sat back in my seat and all I could see were piles of nickels everywhere. And that started my career. And the the company that I started with was Amway, and no idea what Amway was. I just it was a brand new enterprise and a brand new idea
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that started my career, and then I tried that for about thirteen years and failed miserably. Thirteen years is a long time. I wouldn't call it probably a full failure. I mean, you had a you were able to eat and do some things during that time, I think. But what it wasn't what you thought it would be. Right? Exactly. I actually came to the point where I said, this sucks. I'm not doing this ever again. I think every entrepreneur faces that week to week sometimes in their business, even if it's going well. But what's your company do today? So I got involved with a company that came from Japan with an a different method of taking care of yourself, utilizing the Earth's
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natural resources. They've been in business now for almost fifty years and, got involved with this company in 1990. And then through a period of about eight years ended up with one of the top distributors and, built this huge multinational distribution business with, about 30,000 plus distributors in about 47 countries. And, it was a very interesting situation, Thomas, because in that position, I was a celebrity. I do events and stadiums, talk to ten, twelve, 15 thousand people at a time from stage. And then when I'd leave the event and hop back on the plane, nobody knew who the heck I was. And and it was a really curious position to have both those aspects of success. Then at the same time, entrepreneurship offers one the ability to have your time. And to me, that was the most precious because I was able to take my kids to school. I was able to play and go to do be a coach in their t ball leagues and all of this sort of stuff. And and that was really important to me in raising a family. Yeah. Along that time, what was, like, the biggest, you know, metaphor tie you had to cut? Oh, boy. I think that sometimes being an entrepreneur can be a struggle because the income is dependent on what you do and who you're connected with and what you represent. And sometimes it just wasn't working. And I really had to cut the tie to not trusting what I could do. And I think that was a really key point of my journey and my growth and my understanding that I realized that there really was no such thing as failure. That really all it was was I hadn't figured out what to do properly and give it time. So my success started when I found the right mentor, when I found somebody that really knew what we were doing and could guide me in the right direction. And I think that's the biggest pitfall
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that most make when they try to do this industry. And, because, you know, you go in the public and you'll find statistics are very poor. But they're also very poor in many other industries. They're just not publicized the same way. I think you your key thing there is to to realize that it's not failure. It's to tie the cut, but also when to get a mentor. So you're spot on that point of it's not a failure. It's just an evolution, but then getting the support to pull you through it when you realize where you wanna go is, I think, tremendous. Did talk about the moment though when you realized, wow, I need to quit doing that. I tried this a number of times. I came to that realization. I no. This isn't gonna work for me. I gotta do something else. So I went back to traditional
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business, bought a franchise, or like, it was more like a dealership in Southern California that dealt in product that ate oil for cleanup. So it was used for government, schools, gas stations, and so and so. There's a colloidal product, and the manufacturer was in Arizona. So my partner and I dumped everything we had into this business. We're just starting to ramp this up, and then the manufacturer goes broke and couldn't supply us with product. And here I am with a blended family stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I needed to make $8,000 a month to pay the bills. And I'm scratching my head saying, okay. What gives here? Why is this happening? And then all of a sudden now this is, you know, how things work sometimes. Out of the blue, a guy that knew me twenty years earlier called me up and said, hey. There's this new Japanese company in town. They're selling magnets, and I think you should get involved. And I looked at him and I said, magnets. And the only thing that I could reference was things on refrigerators. Right. You gotta be kidding. But then there was this guy that made the pet rock, and he made a fortune. So maybe you there is a fortune in magnets. I don't know. And then finally I got into it and realized it was a health issue, not and, of course, there was no Internet. There was no way to verify. There was nothing in the Encyclopedia Britannica. So the only information came from studies done in Japan and other parts of the world that use alternatives and away you go. And I thought after I tried to salvage this other company for four months, I said, I'd k. Let's go. Let's give it a whirl. I'd understood the concept. It's kinda like when you get into the stock market. I've had a couple of really big wins in the stock market. I also had some big losses, but at the same time, that you remember those positive things. And I said, well, what if? And then I start to go to work, and that's when I found the mentor. Because I said, I don't wanna make the same mistake I made before. Teach me. Show me. What's the deal? And I'm gonna say this, Thomas, that probably the number one mistake that most people make when they enter this field is they don't learn how it worked. And it's really remarkable when I say that. It's such a simple way, but this is so unique. It's so different from most traditional businesses that if you don't understand it, it's totally misunderstood.
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You won't do the right things. You won't work in the right areas, and you won't get the benefits that you can get from it. That knowledge is incredibly important for actually, for you could say that about any industry. You gotta literally get the details. Since kind of that transformation in the moment, how did that impact your family, your relationships, your business? Well, it was miraculous because I went from nothing to a multimillionaire
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in probably two years, three years. That's incredible. That's like a dream scenario. Yeah. A magnet. Something you're like, what? And in between that, what was really fascinating is I walked away from it again and had an opportunity in the wireless digital communication arena, which accelerated. So once I had a little taste, then the door opened for other opportunities to look at and take advantage of and do. And I did that, and we developed a couple of top 50 marketplaces in The United States, and then eventually got sold to Sprint. And in that transaction as an entrepreneur, totally didn't know that industry, nothing about it, just opportunistic time. And then went back once I you know, because I had the mansion, I had the house, I had all the the Mercedes and the Porsches and all that sort of stuff. And and I'm thinking, okay. This is great. Now what? And then I got a call from the company saying somebody's interested. What do you do with them? And it opened the door again. Wow. What's the lesson for the listener? Well, I think there's a number of lessons. First, you have to decide what it is that you want. I mean, this is probably the hardest question that you can ask yourself. What do you want? What does that mean economically? What does that mean socially? What does that mean life style wise? And then you have to compare that to, well, what are you doing to get that? And again, it was, you know, you go back to the father that drove the Thunderbird as a kid, and I said that image was something that was important. Now what's more important to me is helping other people Yeah. Get out of the muck and the mire. And by showing them or giving them the opportunity,
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so, you know, you gotta make that decision. You gotta find the right person, and it's gotta connect, and then you move forward from there. Well, I think in my own journey or just, like, not the autobiography, but I see this in others, is initially, the some of the drivers. I'm gonna have free time. I wanna have my own thing. And then it okay. But how much money do I need to make? And then what kind of lifestyle do I wanna live? Like, you know, for me, I like, we have a marketing agency and a podcast that takes lots of my time. I'm like, well, how can I build a humanless company? Like like, is the premise? Where do I build it is. But I think it's possible. I think it's possible to have as few people as possible into a business with leverage. And so I think that's a great point. Here's the beauty of this. If you're building a traditional business, you have to hire employees
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who then hire more employees, who then hire more employees, and you're responsible for the whole mix. In our business, I hire partners who are responsible to themselves,
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who hire partners who are responsible to themselves. Right. And it's a self creating and generating system. I don't know this one. I'm learning. Right? That's part of it. I get to selfishly get people's information for free. Sometimes even pay to come on here, which is great because they pay me to give them I love it. I'm gonna confess to something. Okay. Cool. I never read one book on marketing. Yeah. Well, by the time you read them, they're outdated. So Yeah. I've written two
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myself,
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but I've never read any. Since we're confessing, I've never listened to a podcast. How about that? There you go.
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What's the best business advice you'd ever been given? Okay. You gotta understand how it works. In other words, what makes it tick? You know, it's like you're building a house. The same thing. What pieces do you have to have? What's the the sequence of events? Who do you need help from? So it's same thing in business. How does it work? Businesses work in a certain way. So whatever you're doing, there's a model that you can follow and then get the help to follow it. Who gave you that advice, though? The gentleman that was above me that had years experience in the business. His name was Al and Al Kiernan, and, he was just a master and an expert. It it was the master apprentice concept. Right. So I learned that in carpentry. I love carpentry. I worked with a master carpenter, taught me all kinds of tricks. I went and learned that with golf. I went out with professional golfers, and they taught me to it's like it's so unique, a relationship when you've got somebody that knows almost everything about what you wanna do, and you have that opportunity. And those guys are out there big time. Yeah. And if you wanna join this kind of an industry and you wanna know how it works, you know, you could connect with me. I'll teach you how it works. I think part of that, right, is getting the right mentor in the right phase of their life where they don't look at you as a threat. They look at you they're just not phased like, no. I wanna help the next gen
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help me. And so that's that's important. Have you read a book, though, you think it's a must read for entrepreneurs?
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For the you know, I don't have a reference on a book because I didn't do that. I'd learned a different way, but, you know, I'm gonna talk about my book. The first book I wrote was vested interest. And then the second book I wrote was no the no hype truths of network marketing. So those are the two books I suggest. I'm fine with that. So self plugging is good. If you gotta start over today, what would you do different? I'd talk to more people. Like, in the industry that you were thinking of, not random dudes in a bed somewhere. Yeah. We're a people business. Here is, you just never know what perception somebody you talk to has and what they're gonna do with the information you present. And when I'm teaching new people, like, you know, before they walk out the door, they have to have their story dialed in. You know, that we call that your act one. It's like when you watch a show on television, those actors, they practice those lines and those scenes many times before you see what they did in the final act. Yeah. And the professional actors come across so natural. You think that they're the person and that the guys that aren't so polished, you know, they're acting. That's the deal. You gotta know what you want. Right. Because that's what other people wanna see. Alright. If there's one question I should ask you today and I didn't, what would it be, and how would you answer it? Well, probably it was, how the heck, Dave, do people get to talk to you? That's the next question. It's not really the last question, but we can go with that. That's fine. How should people well, who do you want to get ahold of you? If you're interested in network marketing, to me, it's the best kept secret under the sun, moon, and stars, especially today in our economy that is all over the place. And there's a lot of uncertainties and there's a lot of fear. This isn't a get rich quick scheme. You know, you gotta put in the time, the effort, and the energy to make it work, but you can put in three, five, six good years that'll last you a lifetime. And that's the benefit that this has to offer. I love it. How do they get ahold of you? Well, first thing, be smarter with dave.com.
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Be smarterwithdave.com.
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We'll get that up there. Yeah. Go there. There's, you get some downloads, you get some articles, you get the books, you know, all of that sort of stuff, and you can contact me, and we could set up a a one on one to talk. It's free. It's no charge. And and I'm all about giving you what you want first. And then if you like that, fine. If you don't, you do what you wanna do. Appreciate it, Dave. Thanks for coming on today. Appreciate it. Thanks, Thomas. Appreciate it.
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Thank you for joining us on this episode of Cut the Tie. Let's stay connected. Please hit that follow button on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. And if you're ready to advance your entrepreneurial journey even further, join our free community at facebook.com/groups/cutthetie. Cut the tie to everything holding you back from success.